9 Euro Ticket

One piece of legislation that has been getting a lot of attention recently is the $9 Euro ticket. In early 2022 Germany created a program that allowed you to travel on any local and regional public transit in Germany all summer long for just $9 (June, July & August). This created a very financially accessible transportation system — most people can afford $9 a month and since individual public transit trips cost around $10, it was worthwhile for anyone planning to take public transportation once in those three months. Hence it was called 9 for 90 or $9 for 90 days. The reason Germany passed this legislation was to combat the rise in energy costs because of the war in Ukraine. This incentivized Germans to use their cars less and use public transportation more leading to decreased energy consumption. The ticket was apart of the Energy Cost Relief Package that cost around $2.5 billion to subsidize public rail and bus operators (since the profits from the $9 tickets would not cover all of the costs. This program had an overtly positive effect on increasing transportation usage to the point that trains and buses were extremely overcrowded at the beginning of summer as everyone raced to “get their money’s worth.” Demand decreased as the summer went on leading to less crowding and more accessibility for individuals still heavily relying and using public transit. This was also a really positive promotion for tourism, once tourists got to Germany they were much likely to go other places and travel, thus spending more money. However there was likely a negative environmental impact with increased demand for trains and buses leading to increased carbon emissions. There is not enough data to say whether these emitted carbon emissions offset the abated carbon emissions by not relying as heavily on cars. When asked whether the program was a success, senior consultant at a Germany based consulting company that specializes in the public sector said , “If it was to ease the financial burden of citizens, I would say yes. If the goal was marketing [public transportation], that’s also a yes. But if the goal was sustainability, I would say no.” Overall there are many different opinions and research on the economic, social, and environmental impact of the $9 euro ticket. However it was definitely beneficial in one way or another because Germany has introduced legislation called the Deutschland ticket which is basically the $9 euro ticket but for $49. This was introduced in December of 2022 intended for 2023 but there is no official start date for the program.